Stony Brook Students Tackle Nine Algorithmic Problems in High-Stakes Contest

Nine algorithmic problems formed the barrier for Stony Brook University students on Friday, Oct. 9, as they competed for a slot in the International Collegiate Programming Contest. The Competitive Programming Club, known as CompProg, organized the selection event under the sponsorship of the Department of Computer Science. Participants had three hours to solve as many challenges as possible on the HackerRank platform. The goal was to identify the top candidates for the university's ICPC teams, which will compete in the Greater New York Regional Contest in November for a chance to reach the 2027 World Finals.

The contest rules penalized hesitation. Competitors were ranked by the number of problems solved, with ties broken by total accumulated time. Each incorrect attempt on a problem that was eventually solved added a 20-minute penalty to the contestant's time. Incorrect attempts on unsolved problems carried no penalty. Each student competed alone in the four-hour event, which was open to any Stony Brook student with basic programming experience.

Club leaders emphasized that the event served a purpose beyond ranking. Enamul Hassan, the vice president; Pritom Kundu, the president; and former president Saajid Chowdhury stated that participants leave with sharper analytical skills useful for technical interviews and software engineering. Rezaul Chowdhury, an associate professor of computer science and faculty advisor, agreed with those comments. The group described the atmosphere as a room of intensely focused students coding and debugging against the clock. They noted that the format, often called sport programming, differs from class assignments because submissions are tested against hidden data with no partial credit.

Tarang Vats, who finished second in the graduate category, said competitive programming has engaged him since his bachelor's degree. He practiced on CodeChef and LeetCode but entered the contest without special preparation, having only reviewed data structures. Vats noted that while class assignments cover a handful of mathematical algorithms, contests demand the skill of turning that mathematics into working code. He confirmed his desire to join an ICPC team.

Prizes were awarded to the top three finishers in three distinct categories: freshmen and sophomores, juniors and seniors, and graduate students. Tiankuan Xia won the freshman and sophomore category. Jensen Jacob took the junior and senior category. E-Ro Nguyen, a second-year Ph.D. student in computer science, won the graduate category. The Department of Computer Science sponsored the prizes along with pizza and drinks for all participants.

The results will determine the university's lineup for the regional. The club will group eligible and willing top performers into teams of three, generally matching them down the ranked list. These teams will train in weekend practice contests, mostly on Saturdays. The strongest groups will be chosen to represent Stony Brook at the regional contest. Students who want to continue practicing can join CompProg's weekly sessions, held every Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. this fall.

Stony Brook has a history of strong performance in these competitions. Its top team placed fifth at the Greater New York Regional in 2015, fourth in 2018, and third in 2021. In 2016, a Stony Brook team won a bronze medal at the North American Invitational Programming Contest. In 2023, a team qualified for the ICPC North America Championship and placed 19th, just short of the top 18 that advanced to the World Finals. Associate Professor Chowdhury said the primary target for this year is to reach the North America Championship again. If the teams achieve that, the goal is a place at the 2027 ICPC World Finals.